This invention relates to an antimicrobial application system, and more particularly to an antimicrobial application system with recycle features for use in connection with food products and surfaces and other items associated with food processing.
Antimicrobial application systems, including spray cabinets are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,720, issued Jun. 1, 2004, titled Spray Application System, discusses a number of such systems and highlights a number of the advantages and disadvantages of these systems. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,720 is incorporated herein by reference. The spray application systems disclosed in that patent offer a number of advantages over earlier systems, as discussed in more detail in that patent. Still, the present inventors have further refined and built upon those systems to offer alternate embodiments offering additional flexibility. For example, it may be desirable to recycle the antimicrobial that is applied to the work pieces. Adding equipment and steps to allow for recycling adds to the cost and complexity of a system, so it will not always be preferred. Still, using recycling reduces consumption of the antimicrobial and water and reduces the amount of waste material in need of disposal. This may be desirable for any number of reasons such as environmental concerns, raw material costs, raw material storage limitations, disposal costs, and regulatory issues involving disposal of wastewater and some antimicrobials. Accordingly, under many circumstances, it will be desirable to recycle the antimicrobial for multiple applications to work pieces to be treated.
Recycling of liquids applied to some types of work pieces in a process line is generally known in the art. Still, recycling liquids in connection with food processing and items associated with food processing presents a number of special issues and concerns, particularly concerning adulteration, contamination, and cross-contamination. These concerns typically argue against recycling or lead to the use of slow, cumbersome, undesirable extra steps and extra equipment that add to the cost and complexity of a system. One such complex system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,348,227, issued to Caracciolo, Jr. in 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.